The dissertation involves an investigation into home schooling in South Africa as an alternative to institutionalised schooling. This is done by means of qualitative research techniques, whereby an ethnographic study of a single home-schooling family takes place. This study occurs against the background established by a comprehensive literature review of the context, nature, scope and current issues of the home-schooling movement, in selected international countries as well as in South Africa. The study investigates the modus operandi of a home school in an attempt to explore actual practice and to uncover primary data. Limited recommendations for home schooling on the basis of the literature study and the specific qualitative inquiry are made. / Educational Studies / M. Ed.(Comparative Education)

The dissertation involves an investigation into home schooling in South Africa as an alternative to institutionalised schooling. This is done by means of qualitative research techniques, whereby an ethnographic study of a single home-schooling family takes place. This study occurs against the background established by a comprehensive literature review of the context, nature, scope and current issues of the home-schooling movement, in selected international countries as well as in South Africa. The study investigates the modus operandi of a home school in an attempt to explore actual practice and to uncover primary data. Limited recommendations for home schooling on the basis of the literature study and the specific qualitative inquiry are made. / Educational Studies / M. Ed.(Comparative Education)

Au Québec, chaque commission scolaire développe sa propre politique d’évaluation de l’«école à la maison» ou AEF (apprentissage en famille). La diversité de ces modalités génère des interactions très diverses entre les parents et les commissions scolaires, laissant certains acteurs insatisfaits de part et d’autre et pouvant compromettre le droit de l’enfant à l’éducation. Notre analyse des situations d’encadrement et de suivi de l’AEF dans le monde révèle plusieurs possibilités de combinaison entre les pouvoirs décisionnels des autorités scolaires, des parents et d’autres acteurs. Parmi ces autres acteurs, il appert que le groupe de soutien, de par sa position intermédiaire et collective, pourrait jouer un rôle régulateur complémentaire et mieux accepté par les autorités scolaires et les parents. Les groupes de soutien d’AEF sont des regroupements locaux et auto-organisés de familles, proposant des activités sociales et d’entraide. Selon la théorie de la gouvernance réflexive, le groupe de soutien peut être considéré comme un lieu d’apprentissage collectif permettant l’émergence de normes sociales régulant les pratiques éducatives des parents. Cette étude vise à décrire les normes sociales établies au sein de groupes de soutien d’AEF québécois et les processus de production normative associés. Les normes sociales collectives implicites et explicites de deux groupes de soutien québécois enregistrés comme organismes sans but lucratif ont été documentées et décrites au moyen d'entrevues de groupe et de documents officiels de chacun de ces organismes. Une analyse de contenu a fait ressortir que les normes sociales collectives explicites formalisent le fonctionnement démocratique des groupes de soutien (modalités de participation des membres), les valeurs prônées (respect d’autrui, ouverture vers les autres) et leurs objectifs sociaux (soutien entre les membres, partage de ressources). Les normes sociales collectives implicites sont les suivantes : 1. Les enfants et les parents-éducateurs doivent socialiser, 2. Le parent-éducateur doit s'engager dans l'éducation des enfants et 3. L'enseignement et l’apprentissage doivent être de qualité et significatifs. Ces normes sociales collectives tendent à rejoindre les normes institutionnelles de l’éducation québécoise, soit la triple mission de l’école québécoise, « instruire, socialiser, qualifier », mais en les dépassant notamment en ce qui a trait à l’importance de l’engagement parental, à l’individualisation de l’enseignement dispensé et à la diversité des possibilités de socialisation. Celles-ci se rapprochent alors davantage des normes juridiques établies par la Loi sur l’instruction publique pour l’AEF: l’enfant doit 1. vivre une expérience éducative et 2. recevoir un enseignement qui soient équivalents à ce qui est vécu et enseigné à l’école, sans nécessairement reproduire la forme scolaire à la maison. Plusieurs processus de construction normative ont été identifiés : par co-construction, par ennoncé et adhésion, par quête partagée et par contact avec des acteurs exterieurs au mouvement d’AEF. Ceci décrit la possibilité d’un apprentissage social et d’une forme d’engagement citoyen des parents-éducateurs à travers ces groupes. Les normes sociales collectives décrites par cette étude et leurs modes de production suggèrent que le groupe de soutien pourrait être un acteur à exploiter davantage dans la gouvernance de l’AEF. / In Quebec, each school board makes its own homeschooling evaluation policy. Those various terms and conditions lead up to a lot of different relationships between homeschooling parents and school agents, leaving some of them unsatisfied, and sometimes, compromising the children’s right to education. Our analysis of homeschooling evaluation policies all around the world shows that parents’ autority, school board’s autority and the autority of a third party could be combined in various ways. Among those third parties, homeschooling support groups, thanks to their collective and intermediary position, could play a complementary role in the homeschooling regulation, with a better acceptance from parents and school agents. Homeschooling support groups are local self-organized groups which gather families for social activities and mutual aid. According to the reflexive governance theory, support groups could be seen as a collective learning place allowing social norms to emerge and regulate parental practices. This study aims to describe social norms currently established in Quebec-based homeschooling support groups and the associated production processes. Explicit and implicit collective social norms of two Quebec-based homeschooling support groups, registered as non-profit organizations, were described using focus groups and offical groups’ documents. Content analysis has showed that collective social explicit norms formalize the democratic mechanism of each group (term and condition of members’ participation), claimed values (respect to and openness toward others) and social goals (mutual support and ressource sharing). Collective social implicit norms were: 1. Children and parents must socialize, 2. Parents must be commited in the child’s education and 3. Teaching and learning must be of quality and meaningfull. Collective social norms seem to be close to institutional norms from Quebec educational school policy, “to provide instruction, to socialize and to provide qualifications”, but they exceed them especialy in matters of parental commitment, which is important, various type of socialization possibilities and individualized instruction. Thus, those norms are closer to the legal framework for homeschooling, in the Public Instruction Act, requiring that a child should 1. receive schooling and 2. benefit from an educational experience which are equivalent to what is provided at school, without necessarily replicating the school form at home. Several norm production processes have been described : co-construction, statement and adherence, shared quest and contact with non-homeschooling persons. It suggests that, through those groups, social learning and citizen commitment of parents are possible. Collective social norms and associated production processes described in this study suggest that homeschooling governance could benefit from using homeschooling support groups as third party in the regulation.

No description available.

The Study & Sing curriculum is designed (1) to provide homeschooling high school students with a music resource that is easy to access and incorporate within their homeschool environment; (2) to facilitate meaningful and effective music instruction by designing a music class for a qualified music teacher to use within cooperative homeschool groups; (3) to offer homeschooling families a comprehensive music class that closely follows the National Core Arts Standards for music education; and (4) to provide a music class for homeschool co-op students that offers a comprehensive design and fosters collaborative music experiences by integrating a performance component that corresponds with the academic music material. This curriculum is an eight-week unit study that explores Early-to-Mid American Music ranging from the 17th century to the early-20th century. The course will be offered synchronously in person within a homeschool cooperative setting and aligns with national music standards by offering a comprehensive approach that incorporates academic music components (Study) with corresponding music performance elements (Sing). Class materials with be easily accessible, enabling students to download the course materials including listening examples, weekly presentations, and links for sheet music, and music teachers will be able to access and download weekly lesson plans with guided instruction and slide presentations. Student comprehension of the unit study material will be assessed through integrated activities and corresponding quizzes during weeks 2-7 and individual prepared presentations in week 7. In the final week of the class, students will sing together in a multi-part choral ensemble and will perform music arrangements adapted from original melodies that they learned and practiced together during the unit study.

This research traces the developments in Europe that led to a rush for foreign missions i different parts of the world, with specific reference to South Africa. It describes the operations of the Swiss missionaries in South Africa from 1873 to 1975. This study also evaluates the motives for the evangelization of the African masses, and contradictions th existed in the relations that missionaries had with proselytes during the period under review. The sterling contributions of black evangelists in this period are demonstrated. It cannot be denied that the Swiss missionaries did a lot of good to the indigenous populac of South Africa-the importance of their services at Lemana Training Institution (1906) and Elim Hospital (1899) are indelibly inscribed in our historiography. They should also applauded for their response to the plight of the Shangaans, who had for reasons unkno to the researcher been by-passed by other missions during the "scramble for mission fields". But the missionaries also had their shortcomings, for instance their failure to ind the state to remove capital punishment from the statute books. They may nonetheless stil continue to be used by the present government of South Africa to assist in carrying the social transformation process forward. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (History of Education)

This research traces the developments in Europe that led to a rush for foreign missions i different parts of the world, with specific reference to South Africa. It describes the operations of the Swiss missionaries in South Africa from 1873 to 1975. This study also evaluates the motives for the evangelization of the African masses, and contradictions th existed in the relations that missionaries had with proselytes during the period under review. The sterling contributions of black evangelists in this period are demonstrated. It cannot be denied that the Swiss missionaries did a lot of good to the indigenous populac of South Africa-the importance of their services at Lemana Training Institution (1906) and Elim Hospital (1899) are indelibly inscribed in our historiography. They should also applauded for their response to the plight of the Shangaans, who had for reasons unkno to the researcher been by-passed by other missions during the "scramble for mission fields". But the missionaries also had their shortcomings, for instance their failure to ind the state to remove capital punishment from the statute books. They may nonetheless stil continue to be used by the present government of South Africa to assist in carrying the social transformation process forward. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (History of Education)